What was your toddler's speech like at age two?

[charliearm]

Hello,

I'm just trying to get to grips with what's within the "normal range". My son is 21 months – and he has a few words, but rarely joins them up.

The words he has are often unclear / his own versions. For instance, variations of the sound "Ma/Ma, Meh/Meh, Mor/Mor" standing for various things like Mama, water, fox, more etc. He'll only link Bye (Buh-Buh) with other words, but that's about it in terms of sentences. Apart from that, the only words we have are mama / dada / nana / baby.

How does this compare with other children? The few children we've met at playgroups of a similar age seem to be much more advanced than this.

I'm doing everything I can to help him, plenty of reading, face to face chatting etc – but new words don't seem to be coming. I've also tried accessing Speech/Language help via local health visitors / NHS - but this has proved near impossible. I'm also not sure if it's all fine anyway – and he'll just develop this in his own time 😊

Any insights / experiences welcome.

Thank you so much. X

My middle boy was talking in full sentences at 18 months, and he'd make up his own words for things he didn't know.

The eldest and youngest only had a few words at 2 years. I ended up getting their hearing checked and both had glue ear. Once they'd had grommets put in their speech came on in leaps and bounds.

OP, if you are at all worried, push your GP for a hearing test. It'd be good to rule hearing issues out at least.

My eldest had less than 40 words at 2. Caught up within 15 months and by 4 was described as a chatterbox! People surprised that she was on the SALt pm paw

My eldest had less than 40 words at 2. Caught up within 15 months and by 4 was described as a chatterbox! People surprised that she was on the SALT pathway!

My youngest has just turned 2 and has excellent speech and language skills. Understands most things, hundreds of words and speaks in anything from short phrases to full sentences.

My kids could speak in fairly long sentences by two. And stood out as advanced compared to others but my 3/4 it all averages out and there's no difference speech wise between them and their peers.
If they get to around 2.5 and still have very few words then I would start to investigate. But there's such a huge range of normal at that age.

My dd is 2.5 and has been speaking in complex sentences probably since a few weeks after turning 2, at 21 months she was being potty trained , she could say ‘mummy, need a wee’ or ‘get my potty’ or ‘that’s a penguin potty’ type sentences, from about 17 months she could ask for food, drink, particular toys etc. she has been assessed as being advanced for spoken and receptive language don’t think it’s anything we have done it’s just her personality she has a craving to put her opinion across come hell or high water lol. However that said my friends son who is 3 months older than my dd was only speaking in one or two words ( ‘dat dog’ ‘shoes on’ ‘‘big car’ ‘my have’ and doing lots of hand leading, he also couldn’t form certain sounds so no ‘th’ or ‘l’ sound, his sister is named Bella and she was ‘Beh-wah’) until literally Christmas when he suddenly started becoming easier to understand, using 3 or 4 words linked ‘can I have cup?’ ‘What is that?’ ‘I see a tractor’ and his speech has really caught up totally randomly so I think between like 18 months and 2.5 it’s such a lottery of skills and sometimes it’s not what you do it’s more just when they’re ready

The book Baby Talk is worth getting, lots of dos and donts that I know friends found helpful. Some of them i wouldn't have thought of but they make sense when you read it. Written by a speech therapist. One friend's 2dc didn't talk beyond the odd word until 2 or so and all was fine. My two were pretty good by two, chatting and knew colours, dc2 was particularly able. I always kept the radio off, narrated everything, kept buggy facing me, lots of books etc. But you may be doing all that and just have a different child.

There really is a huge range and you may be communicating very well together without speech at all, which is what my friend feels slowed her ds down but once he started, off he went!

Mine was quite slow to speak - only started saying words at 18 months, and at 2 he was only really saying two words together. I have a video of him in the snow saying 'Mama, so' just before he turned 2 and I remember being delighted by that!

Just after he turned 2 he went back to nursery after the winter Covid lockdown and he speech exploded - he literally went from that to full sentences in a few weeks. I suspect he needed to speak to get his needs met as he was one of many rather than with us in the house all day.

Rest assured he's now nearly 6 and doesn't shut up...

ETA - my point was, maybe he doesn't need to speak because he's with you all day and you can interpret him.

Don't worry it really varies.
My DD at two was speaking full sentences, good vocab and chatted all the time. DS said single words and only if he had to.

Oldest child spoke like a school child at 2, very intelligent, autistic

Youngest was putting very short not grammatically correct sentences together, average, neurotypical

I have a sibling who didn't speak till three and is very intelligent and autistic.

2 out of three putting sentences together and pronouncing most words correctly. The other on nonexistent.

The last on cought up by 4 and then wouldn't shut up.

I wouldn't worry too much. Boys tend to be slower with language than girls. Also, some children prefer to communicate through signs and gestures, which can slow their language development.

Doesn't sound worrying to me.

Oldest was quite verbal at 2, a lot of words, short sentences

Youngest had quite a lot of words, said his first word at same age atsoldest (and same word, 'Kitty') but wasn't putting any together. Started to age 3, but was still making silly noises more than he was saying sentences when he started school. But he is August born, so was only just 4, plus it turned out he has ADHD which put him always behind the curve a bit